PHOTOS COURTESY MARIST COLLEGE
Marist 2007 graduate Maureen Kolish modeled a dress designed by student Sheila Cooney in the Marist College Fashion Program's Silver Needle Fashion Show in April. A small show tomorrow at the Honolulu Design Center marks only the second time the school has taken a show on the road.

Get this show on the road

Thanks to "Project Runway," Parsons School of Design might be one of the first institutions that comes to mind when students think about where to study fashion design and merchandising. By virtue of proximity to New York's fashion scene, the Fashion Institute of Technology is up there, as well as the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising for those on the West Coast.

Marist College Fashion Show

Marist College, for one, will be trying to stir up interest by traveling 5,000 miles from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to stage a fashion show for alumni, prospective students and their families tomorrow night at the Honolulu Design Center.

OK, so it's not just about the fashion program. The trip coincides with a basketball exhibition at McKinley High, involving the school's women's team. A team member, Rachel Fitz, also is a designer and model, and the school's administration, putting two and two together, decided to piggyback the events. The show, of about 15 garments created by Marist students, represents a first look at the work of designers likely to be seen on professional runways in coming years.

Prospective students should know the program is one of the most competitive in the country, accepting only 30 students a year, according to program director Radley Cramer.

"It's exactly like 'Project Runway,'" he said of an admissions process that includes submitting a portfolio and participating in a design challenge.

"We look for an intuitive creative sense," he said. "Our current theme is 'A Natural Phenomenon,' and in sketching their collections applicants are coming up with things that include surface tension, aurora borealis, things that apply to Greek mythology; things that are not typical. We're looking for people who are both left-brain and right-brain oriented.

"We're looking at developing the whole person so they emerge with an understanding of business, history, art, literature - those are the kind of things that drive the fashion industry as well."

The school is particularly interested in Hawaii students because of the diversity reflected in a multicultural lifestyle. "We like to have students of different backgrounds, different points of view. You have to be global to be really relevant."

PHOTOS COURTESY MARIST COLLEGE
Marist student Rebecca Allison, a member of Marist's women's crew team, models an outfit designed by student Rachel Humphrey.

Marist College's location about 75 miles north of New York City makes it easy to draw instructors from Manhattan's fashion industry. Critiques are performed by working professionals such as designer Joseph Abboud. Cramer was a former head of product development for Revlon, and consultant for Bergdorf Goodman, who also ran his own retail and online businesses, before arriving at Marist as a part-time instructor.

"I loved it so much. Our students are so energizing. They're so focused and know exactly what they want to do, which is such a big change from my generation. We went to school to figure out what we wanted to do.

"They may come in thinking the fashion industry is all about the glamour. We help them to understand the fast pace. The industry is all about change, energy and change," he said.

Because most of the students come straight from high school, Cramer said, they haven't had time to develop an oversized ego.

"We have no prima donnas," Cramer said. "You have to work very hard in the industry to become a prima donna."